Re: Why choose Debian?

[Arnout Engelen <a.engelen@gmx.net>]

|> I am interested in why people prefer Debian to other Linux 
|> distributions.  Please explain the top few reasons why you chose Debian 
|> rather than something else.

About in august '99 (I was 17), Linux seemed to be the new buzzword in the
computer hobbyist world. So I decided to give it a whirl. Been browsing
around a bit, none of the websites gave me a clear reason why I should
choose them. Then I stubled upon a Dutch site of a Debian distributor,
explaining very clearly the Debian ('free') philosophy and why it makes
sense, and a very though on-line manual written in crystal-clear Dutch. 
It offered the complete set of Potato (it had just turned stable I believe)
with a printed version of the manual for less than a quarter of the price
I had seen Red Had been sold for.

I was prepared for the 'worst install program ever' with no graphical
interface. Turned out that the install interface in fact was graphical,
only text-mode. And guided by the manual, the install has proven to be
a breeze every time until now. Only X tends to give problems, which is
no different for other distro's.

The good thing about Debian is, imo, that ever decision made actually
makes sense. If it wouldn't, there would be a discussion under some 
people who know and use the system (the Debian Developers), and they
decide wether to change it or not. Perfect.

Things that seem eleet and difficult often turn out to be really easy.
Once I heard that, with Apache, I could turn my computer in a web
server. Sounds real impressive. So I reserved, like, a wednesday-
afternoon for playing with that. OK. apt-get install apache.
ready. that's it. dump the html in /var/www and I was done. Amazing.

I have tried Slackware and Red Hat briefly since, but Debian just
seems to make more sense every time. I use it almost exclusively now
(I use windows for tools we need to use for university projects, and
Delta Force :)

-- 
      __________________________
     /______________________    |  Arnout Engelen <a.engelen@gmx.net>     
    |    _________________ /|   |       _                 _
    |   | |_______________|_|   |       -                 =
    |   |/______________________|    Debian GNU/Linux: when code 
    |__________________________/      matters, not commercials